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Free school supplies foundation reopens

A foundation that offers free school supplies to needy students in St. Paul and Minneapolis is reopening its facility after a year-long closure.

The Kids in Need Foundation closed down its Twin Cities Resource Center last year after one of its partners, which provided staffing and space, pulled out.

The center has reopened and will provide roughly 3,000 teachers with free school supplies starting next week.

Teachers can pick up the supplies if they're at a school where 70 percent of the student body qualifies for free or reduced lunch. That covers about 40,000 students in 90 schools in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Kids in Need Foundation executive director Dave Smith says teachers are often the ones who pay for supplies for needy students.

"The numbers we hear now is from $500 to $1,000 a year that teachers to spend of their own money."

The foundation hopes to expand its operations to the Twin Cities suburbs.